Tag Archives: california

Vintage Steam Locomotive

I made a visit to the California Railroad Museum in Sacramento for a press unveiling of a new locomotive for Caltrans. After the event was over, I headed outside to make some calls and walk along the river. The museum doesn’t just have vehicles inside. Outside are a pair of steam locomotives too. They are beefy looking things too. Finished in black, they make for a difficult thing to photograph on a sunny day and the iPhone camera handled it surprisingly well.

I was quite taken with the texture around the boiler area where the outside of the loco includes a large array of rivets. I don’t know whether they were recently restored or just are well looked after but they were an impressive sight and attracted a large number of people having their pictures taken.

Tri-Valley Haven 5k/10k

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A shelter program in the Tri-Valley area held a fund raising run a little while back. A few of our friends had decided to participate so I headed along to get some shots of them running. There was both a 5k and a 10k to choose from. The 10k was the first to head out. This meant they could get away rather than conflict with the 5k runners and would hopefully avoid any 5k runners being directed off on the longer route by mistake.

A few minutes later, the 5k participants lined up and were sent on their way. They headed through the park and off to the trail that would be their out and back route. They needed to cross a road so the volunteers were out to manage the traffic and allow the runners to cross without having to stop. (Most drivers managed to handle this concept but I saw one dope that didn’t seem to think the stop signs meant anything.)

Everyone seemed to be having a good time when they headed out. The return meant some of them looked a little less perky but they had done well and supported a good cause. Well done everyone.

Rocky Point Restaurant

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A favorite of ours for a while has been the Rocky Point Restaurant. Located on Pacific Coast Highway, it is not the greatest restaurant but it is so well located, you can forgive it many things. On our trip this time, we just stopped off for a drink rather than a meal. This proved to be a great idea because we we could wander down to the lower terrace to enjoy our drinks and watch the whales swim past. We first came here years ago when I was taken on a corporate event which included dinner here. Once we knew about it, we came back on a few occasions. These shots just show what a great place it is to hang out.

Air China A330

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Boring paint schemes are far too common these days on airliners. The all white plane with just a hint of color is a little too much of a feature of things these days. A few airlines break the mold but not enough. One of the boring ones is Air China. They are not at all interesting for most of their fleet. However, some of their Airbus A330s are painted in a livery that is a bit more interesting. Sadly, I had never seen one. They fly in to San Jose but almost always they bring a jet in plain white. However, they changed it on a day when we were going to San Jose for some shopping so I added a small diversion.

This scheme is not the most dramatic and shooting it in the middle of the day is not going to emphasize it in the best way but I wasn’t going to miss the chance. San Jose provides a great location for getting close to the jets. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one interested in it coming. A few people showed up just before arrival and left straight afterwards. I just wish more airlines would adopt interesting colors. The planes are not very varied so the liveries are all that is left to mix it up.

Bixby Creek Bridge

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Head south from Carmel along the Pacific Coast Highway and you will eventually come across Bixby Creek Bridge. This iconic bridge is a popular tourist attraction and also the feature of plenty of car commercials and movies. If you have watched Big Little Lies, you will have asked yourself why these people were driving over this bridge so often when it is a long way from where they live and doesn’t take them anywhere that they would normally be going.

We stopped off to check it out while we were driving south. There are some good places to stop just north of the bridge and lots of people are there taking their pictures. Unfortunately, the angle of the light is not good. This didn’t stop me taking some pictures anyway. However, on the way back north, I stopped short of the bridge to take advantage of the better light angle and I am glad I did. I guess most people aren’t bothered by the light. However, they could really benefit their tourist snaps from going to the other side. It would be fun to try this out late in the evening.

Seven Gables Inn

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Monterey Bay is an area that we have visited many times but we have always made it a day trip. With the area shortly to be a lot less accessible to us, we decided to have a weekend down there so we could relax and enjoy the area without having to think about getting in the car for a drive back. Nancy looked at various places to stay and she picked the Seven Gables Inn. Located in Pacific Grove, it sits right on the shore road. We have driven and walked by many times but this time we stayed.

The hotel has a great location. They have a lounge area with views over the bay that you can relax in with wine and cheese in the evenings. Meanwhile, the breakfast room has a panoramic view out over the water. Sitting eating your breakfast while looking out at the bay is very tranquil. The original building is a Victorian structure while additions have been made to expand things over the years. It proved to be a great base for our weekend away.

Hangar 1 on a Misty Morning

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When I am on a shoot, the main focus is on the subject that you are there for. However, I have rarely had a shoot when I didn’t get some pictures of something else while I was there. The problem comes when I am going through the shoot. I need to get the shots I am going to use selected and edited. The other shots are put to one side and, it is really easy to forget about them when the next shoot needs to be worked through.

While this is a bit annoying, it does mean that you periodically come across something long afterwards when you are running through images for another reason. This shot of Hangar 1 at Moffett Field is just such a shot. I saw the shots while looking for a shot of an IL-76. I quickly realized that they were shot to be a panorama and had never been tagged as such. This time I ran it quickly through the pano function and got the shot out. It was shot early in the morning awaiting the departure of Solar Impulse and I like the misty look in the air.

Amtrak Over the River

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Having watched a guy walking across a narrow railroad bridge over the Alameda Creek in Fremont as you can read about here, a train was now coming across the bridge. The train was a Capital Corridor service heading to San Jose. I am currently working on a project to acquire new locomotives for Caltrans that will see service on the Capital Corridor and will replace borrowed Amtrak locomotives. This train was being hauled by one of these Amtrak locomotives. All being well, this will soon no longer be a regular sight.

Avaya Stadium for a Pre-Season Game

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I was down in San Jose and I ended up getting some lunch next to the Avaya Stadium. This is the home of the San Jose Earthquakes, a Major League Soccer side. They were having a pre-season game and a steady stream of people was showing up. The stands didn’t look like they were filling up to much. I don’t know whether the Quakes get a good attendance or not or whether being a pre-season game made a difference. Either way, some of the fans up at the top of the stand were certainly making their presence felt. I decided to shoot a pano sequence of the stadium for fun. Blending it proved a little difficult because of the constant movement of vehicles and people in the foreground but most of the odd artifacts will probably not be too obvious.

Holocaust Memorial

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After our trip around the Legion of Honor, we took a stroll around the grounds by the museum. The majority of the land is taken up with a golf course – a sad use for some great open space in the city – but, as we walked around the sidewalk, there was a sign for a holocaust memorial. We figured we would take a look. We were anticipating some sort of plaque or a wall. We weren’t prepared for what was actually there.

Tucked behind a wall was a sculpture that really made you stop. A solitary figure stood behind a barbed wire fence while many bodies lay on the ground behind him. It was striking. I know I had been anticipating something straightforward so the contrast was marked but, even so, the effect when I first saw the memorial was dramatic. It really struck you hard. I hope the pictures provide even a hint of how effective the memorial was.